Field of the Invention
This invention relates to swivel assemblies and to swivels.
Summary of the Prior Art
A swivel is an anti-torsion device for reducing the twisting loads within climbing and hauling lines. Traditionally, these have constituted of an assembly that includes pair of swivel bodies with a thrust or roller bearing joining the two bosses to enable them to spin independently.
Swivels come in a range of sizes, shapes and connection arrangements. An assembly that constitutes a swivel may typically have two swivel eyes or one swivel eye and a boss or two bosses. In general, an eye is used to connect the swivel to a carabiner and a boss is used to connect the swivel to a flexible line, lanyard or shackle.
It is desirable that the swivel and shackle body be as short as possible to reduce the height of any system of which it is a component and to ensure minimal leverage on the swivel body. As illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, during manufacture of a conventional swivel assembly, the bearing must pass through one of the attachment eyes to connect with the other eye or boss. This means that the size of the swivel eye is determined by the size of the bearing that it must accommodate, which is, in turn, determined by the working load of the swivel assembly. This places a lower limit on the size of a swivel that can be constructed using standard techniques.